The effectiveness of most surgical procedures depends in large part on the accuracy with which hardware is introduced. Guide pin and drill guides are very useful in achieving improved accuracy of hardware placement.
Many current guide or aiming models offer very limited range of motion. Many are specifically designed for situations in which a target point is positioned within a more discernible intra-articular space rather than within a bone or other anatomical structure. For many procedures, surgeons must rely on cumbersome C-arm fluoroscopy in the operating room to confirm the location of hardware. This, and other forms of intra-operative x-ray imaging, inevitably leads to excessive radiation exposure as well as increased operating times. There is a need for a single, easy to use, mechanical apparatus that offers movement in multiple planes while guaranteeing, given proper placement of the leading end of a first surgical tool (sometimes described herein as a locator tool) at a target (perhaps not discernibly located within a bone or within a joint), that the leading end of a second surgical tool be placed at precisely the same target.